When is digital going to get the soul of music?

when you use the word "quality" to judge books, wine, food and art, the word much be defined so that one can recognize what quality is. quality is subjective. if i like it, it is good quality, if i don't quality is not good. thus, it is possible that an arbitrary definition of quality will not produce a relationship between it and enjoyment.

back to music... if you listen to a favorite "tune" on a table radio or other "inferior" medium, do you say "i can't get into the song because the sound is bad " ?

i would hope not. if you like the music, you like it, in spite of the sound. you can give reasons for liking it, regardless of the sound. note, sound "quality" is not absolute. it is subjective.

let's consider movies . a highly reviewed movie may not be enjoyable . a so called "quality" movie may or may not be enjoyed by many people.

there is no existing demonstration of a high correlation between enjoyment and any definition of quality.

You are correct MRT--to know is to judge; to judge is to process; to process is to filter; that which is filtered is degraded; that which is degraded is flawed; to know objective Truth is but a pipedream; attempting to share knowledge is illusory and further corrupts the episteme; dribble dribble dribble; add more trite sophistry. you have vast audiophilic and musical experience, graduate studies, thousand of systems auditioned, have reviewed for years on end, have a clear command of the English language and an outstanding facility to communicate; we just can't measure up. . . who cares!

In the meantime. . . a few of us are enjoying each other's company, while talking about the beauty of Music and Sound from both sides of the ePond.

hi mr g:
a wise man know that he knows not. he who says he knows when he knows not is a fool.

how did knowledge get into this ?

you make an excellent point about talking about music and sound.

you can enjoy the music without enjoying the sound, and you can enjoy the sound withjout enjoying the music. thank you for your profundity.

my point is that "soul" resides in the music, as a form of communication not in the "sound".

More sophistry. . . Yaaawn!

People's tastes obviously differ, and can't be easily quantified or measured.

But if "quality" were purely subjective, why would there ever be a consensus amoungst experts or enthusiasts on anything?

Chateau Lafite, Lobb shoes, Porsche turbos, Amman hotels, and Frette linens are high "quality" because it says so in the ads?